In 1986, I was a married man with two small kids and living in Colerain Township. Yes. It seems like a lifetime ago.

In grade school, my daughter took ballet lessons and with those lessons came a ballet recital. Of course I wanted to see my daughter dance but those other kids? Not so much. As you know, you can’t always get what you want, so my wife and I and young son sat through those other performances with fake smiles on our faces. Well, at least mine was.

My daughter did her ballet dance just fine. At some point—maybe around the middle of the show—the ballet teacher did a solo performance of her own. A Country band—but not all that Country—named Restless Heart had a big record out called “I’ll Still Be Loving You.” That record was put through the school’s sound system somehow and the ballet teacher danced to it.

I considered the song too slick and didn’t care all that much for it, but watching that teacher dance to the song made me think of it in an entirely different way. She turned it into something truly beautiful—a Country ballet of sorts. I wish I could remember that teacher’s name but I simply can’t.

In my travels on YouTube recently, I came across “I’ll Still Be Loving You” on a show called “Larry’s Country Diner.” There were the guys from Restless Heart. They’re a little older now but still singing that slick song very well. I wanted to put it up here, but Larry is holding fast to his copyright rules. You all know how Larries can be. Here’s the original recording.

At some point, go to YouTube and watch them perform the song live. Watching them sing it again brought back memories of my daughter in ballet class and her teacher. If I said it didn’t make me tear up a little, I’d be lying.